Yury Ilyin on preparation for flood period: Regional akimats should carry out preparatory work together with population

12 February 2019, 13:19

Photo: primeminister.kz

Vice Minister of the Interior Yury Ilyin spoke at the press-conference in the Government’s press center on the preparation of public services for the spring flood period.

Ilyin said that more than 700 protective dams were purchased from the Government’s reserves and distributed across regions in 2018.

“We don’t have to say that we can put motor pumps in every yard, but in order to properly prepare the population for floods, it is necessary to build the correct work of akimats together with the population. Now we are seeing that many residents are simply waiting for the services of public utilities, instead of themselves starting to prepare their yard for the looming threat,” said Ilyin.

According to the vice minister, there are concerns about several regions of Kazakhstan, where the amount of snow reserves exceeds the norm. These are the West Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Akmola and East Kazakhstan regions. Excess snow in some areas is more than 100% of the annual norm. At the same time, there are both regional and interstate agreements in the issue of interaction, for example, the West Kazakhstan region with the Russian Federation, where services exchange information on water accumulation.

“In critical situations, when there is a threat, expenses will be raised, the akimats should work to identify people living in water protection zones in order to resettle them in advance and ensure safety, which is done in Uralsk in particular. We annually carried out and will continue to carry out the evacuation of the population to temporary places of accommodation in order first of all to secure their lives. As for the property, then if it is insured, insurance companies will pay, and if these are low-income families, it is possible at the expense of the akimat’s reserves,” said Ilyin.

It is worth noting that the roadmap has been implemented to prevent and eliminate flood threats from 2017 and it contains more than 600 measures to protect human settlements from flooding.